Hi All,
I'm fianlly about to start building my IH mill.
That may sound strange, building an IH, but I bought a headless machine from Aaron before he sold the business. The parts have been riding around in my van for over a year and today I wrestled them out, ( the weight of the column is unbelievable, will my back survive?).
So I've been measuring, figuring, travels, clearances, configurations, etc.

The first question I come up with that I don't have an answer for is the mouting of the base to the table. The table will be a welded up affair from heavy guage 2X2 tubing. The tabletop rails will be placed to fall under each of the four sides of the base exactly enough to weld threaded rod to the sides of the square tubes which will fit into the holes in the base.
On top of the frame I'll place a heavy guage piece of aluminum drilled for the studs, and then I'll J&B around the studs to seal off coolant.

Having welded a similar table before, I know that getting it exactly flat is impossible, at least for me. I can clamp and tack, and do all the right things but it will still be off of flat by quite a bit.

So my qustion to any who read this is:
What is the best proceedure for mounting the base to this not so flat table.

My first thoughts are:
Set it on rubber, either solid or liquid
Shim it the best I can, then tighten.
Set it on J&B weld, let it harden and then tighten.
Grind away at the table until I have it sitting good and then add the aluminum.

I'm listening,
Ozzie